Trucks move around the port of L.A. complex in Wilmington on Friday, Aug. 3, 2018. In addition to the nearby refinery, the port traffic is a source of pollution in Wilmington. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

Following months of public hearings and debate, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will meet at 9 a.m. Monday, March 9, to consider passing a $10-per-TEU truck fee to help pay for cleaner trucks in coming years.

The goal is to meet a 2035 deadline for all trucks serving the twin ports to be zero-emission.

Critics, including many from environmental advocacy organizations, argue the fee needs to be much higher — a minimum of $50 per TEU, which stands for twenty-foot equivalent unit — to effectively bank enough funds for the changeover.

But port officials say the proposed $10 fee, which in practice would amount to an average of $18 per load — TEUs are a universal measurement and most containers today are 40 feet — will bring in sufficient funds while balancing rising customer costs that might threaten to drive cargo to other ports.

Rates would apply to cargo owners and be implemented on trucks hauling loaded containers entering or leaving the terminals.

In remarks made by Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka at the Thursday, March 5 board meeting, the move would bring in more than $90 million for the first year.

Each year, that money would be used as incentives to help turn the fleets serving the ports over to cleaner vehicles.

Before the ports can begin collecting the rate, however, the commissions must approve it. Then, the California Air Resources Board must set its emission standard for low-nitrogen-oxides engines, which is expected to occur in spring.

The ports must then establish a mechanism to collect the rate at the gates. Lastly, the ports must present a tariff amendment to their respective boards to officially implement the rate, with collections expected to begin later this year.

A concern among commissioners, however, is whether and how much the fees could affect the ports’ 17,000 truck drivers, many of whom are independent workers earning low wages.

The fees would begin to be collected later this year, Seroka said Thursday, March 5, and are meant to be a “starting point” as funding from the state is made available and manufacturers join the effort. Progress also is expected to be made in developing newer, cleaner trucks and engines in quantities that make large purchases more practical.

“Ten dollars just won’t do it,” Marc Carrel, president of Breathe L.A., said at the March 5 port meeting. “In three years, that will only subsidize approximately 5,000 trucks.”

In remarks representing the nonprofit Coalition for Clean Air at a Dec. 18 workshop in Long Beach, Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza said 12,000 trucks will need replacing to meet the 2035 goal. That amounts to $1.2 billion, or $400 million annually for three years, according to the coalition.

From the ports’ perspective, the issue is a complex one and something of a balancing act.

“It’s important to note that what we’re doing (to cut pollution) is so much more than all our other competitors, which drives cargo away from Southern California,” said Port of Los Angeles Commissioner Edward Renwick.

That, he said, is “bad for jobs” and, ultimately, bad for the environment. It essentially drives cargo business to other ports that charge less, he said.

Seroka said diesel particulate matter has dropped by more than 90% since the first Clean Air Action Plan was adopted 14 years ago.

Carrel acknowledged the ports have come a long way in cleaning the air and water since passing the Clean Air Action Plan in 2006.

The 2017 CAAP update called for transitioning the current drayage truck fleet to near-zero technologies in the near-term and to zero-emissions by 2035.

“But it’s not how far you’ve come, it’s how much farther you have to go,” Carrel said at the Dec. 18 workshop.

For Renwick, the equation must factor in the loss of cargo business that goes elsewhere to avoid the extra costs now associated with Los Angeles/Long Beach.

“If you care about global greenhouse emissions, you probably don’t want the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to lose cargo,” Renwick said.

Ships going to New York or other ports, he said, will face fewer clean air restrictions than they do here, and because of that, will pay less for shipping.

“Everyone who comes up and speaks seems to think there’s a simple and clear answer,” he said. “But we are charged with looking at the problem holistically, and it’s a bunch of trade-offs, many of which can’t be measured.”

The new, clean trucks also are expensive and near-zero models are not being made in quantities that make large purchases for companies possible yet, port officials said.

Other concerns include putting a financial burden on companies and truck drivers. The vast majority of trucks using the ports are older models and don’t run on clean fuels, according to the ports’ draft report on the issue. As of April 2018, the report said, trucks with a model year earlier than 2014 accounted for 14,345 — or almost 84% — of the current fleet.

Donna Littlejohn has covered the Harbor Area as a reporter since 1981. Along with development, politics, coyotes, battleships and crime, she writes features that have spotlighted an array of topics, from an alligator on the loose in a city park to the modern-day cowboys who own the trails on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. She loves border collies and Aussie dogs, cats, early California Craftsman architecture and most surviving old stuff. She imagines the 1970s redevelopment sweep that leveled so much of San Pedro's historic waterfront district as very sad.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.